“It was a little like a ship without a rudder with Mike,” said one source close to the situation. “He didn’t have the same command that you would want with a team like that. They’re veterans and they know when someone is in over their head and it seemed like that was the case with Mike.”

Brown’s failing, then, was more to do with perception than reality, more about the weight of his voice than about what he was actually saying. Brown is a good coach and knows his Xs and Os, but the Lakers are a team stacked with guys who have been on 35 All-Star teams, guys who have won championships. They don’t need Xs and Os from their coach as much as they need a guy they trust.

And going back to the time that Pat Riley left, no coach in Lakerland has earned as much trust as Jackson, who has more rings (11) than fingers.

This has become a pattern. Jackson is like a faded singing star coaxed onstage by the band in a Vegas lounge—“Who me? No, no. … Well, OK, maybe just one song …” Del Harris coached the team in the late 90s and has long been known as one of the league’s better tacticians. But he lacked credibility among the players. His teams flamed out in the playoffs, leading to his ouster in 1999, and the arrival of Jackson in L.A. the next year, when the Lakers won the first of three straight championships.

It was much the same in ’04-’05, when the Lakers hired Rudy Tomjanovich, who was well down on their original list of candidates. Tomjanovich had championship credentials, but he was overwhelmed by the Lakers job and resigned midway through the season because of health reasons. Jackson was roped out of retirement again, and within three years, L.A. was back in the NBA Finals.

Here we are again, with the Lakers having hit the panic button after five games with their revamped “superteam.” No question the players were operating under too much duress to open the year, and some of that should fall to Brown. They were not operating as a unit defensively and, though the impact of the newly installed Princeton offense has been overblown, they were overthinking on offense. Brown didn’t have his players in the right frame of mind to open the year, and management obviously felt he might never get them there.

And so all eyes are on Jackson again. Forget the fact that Jackson’s triangle offense won’t be easy for the new Lakers to learn, and forget the fact that the triangle uses some of the same principles as the Princeton offense. What Jackson has long done best is find a way to prod his teams mentally into reaching their potential, to get the most out of each piece. If Lakers players were lacking confidence in Brown, that will quickly change under Jackson. His voice carried weight that Brown’s never could.

Going strictly by the names on the roster, this is the best team in the Western Conference. Put Jackson back at the helm of the Lakers, and they’ll start to show it.